Alenia Aermacchi, a Finmeccanica company, has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence of Poland to supply eight M-346 Master. The contract – signed after the aircraft was selected, as already announced – is worth EUR 280 million.

Alenia Aermacchi, a Finmeccanica company, has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence of Poland to supply eight M-346 Master. The contract – signed after the aircraft was selected, as already announced – is worth EUR 280 million.In addition to the eight aircraft, the provision also includes logistic support, a training programme for pilots and engineers and a ground-based training system with dedicated classrooms and educational materials.

After Italy, Singapore and Israel, Poland is the fourth customer to order the M-346, considered the most advanced/lead-in fighter trainer aircraft currently available on the market and the only new-generation trainer specifically designed to train pilots to fly high-performance latest generation military aircraft. The Polish contract raises the number of M-346 aircraft ordered to date to 56.The Italian aircraft won the Polish contract against international competitors.

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONThe M-346 has low acquisition and operation costs and adopts innovative design solutions: it is an aircraft with full authority quadruplex Fly-by-Wire control system that, thanks to the optimization of the aerodynamic configuration, allows it to remain fully controllable at angles of attack of over 30 degrees. This, combined with the twin-engine configuration, the duplication and redundancy of the electric and hydraulic system and the choice of state-of-the-art equipment, makes the M-346 the most modern pre-operational tactical training aircraft in the world.The M-346 is equipped with a digital avionic system, fully modeled on those of new generation military aircraft such as the F-16 Block 52+ currently in service with the Polish Air Force, and is well-suited for every phase of advanced and pre-operational training, enabling fewer required flight hours on the more expensive frontline aircraft.The M-346 integrates the ETTS (Embedded Tactical Training Simulation), a function that has the ability to simulate a complete suite of sensors, countermeasures and armaments, and also to create a virtual tactical scenario, simulating air, naval and land forces, enemy or friend, interacting in real time with the aircraft during the training missions.Alenia Aermacchi’s Integrated Training System (ITS) includes, together with the M-346, an exhaustive Ground Based Training System (GBTS), enabling student pilots to learn and rehearse the entire aircraft syllabus and all training objectives on the ground, before replicating them in flight.

Alenia Aermacchi’s GBTS for Poland includes flight simulators with different degrees of complexity (Full Mission Simulator, Flight Training Device and an Emergency Procedure Trainer). Additionally, at Deblin Air Base, where the Polish Air Force’s M-346 will be based, Alenia Aermacchi will build fully equipped classrooms with Computer Based Training for pilots and ground crew and will provide further didactical tools and systems including a Training Management Information System allowing for overall management of the Integrated Training System.